Improvement in presses



Arent" 'risica JAMES CHRISTISON, OF NEW' YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN PRESSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 39,885, dated September15, 18653.

To @ZZ whom, it may concern.-

Beit known that I, JAMES GHRisTIsoN, of the city and county of New York,in the State of New York, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Presses; and l do hereby declare that the following is afull and eX- act description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

Figure l is aside elevation, and Fig. 2 is an end elevation, of a pressconstructed according to my invention. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of apart on a larger scale, and Fig. et is a diagram intended to representpart of an end elevation corresponding to Fig. 3.

Similarletters of referenceindicatelike parts in all the gures.

It is well known in the arts that if a rope or chain is let off from apart of lany given diameter and wound with an equal angular velocityupon a part of a greater diameter such rope or chain will be graduallyabsorbed or accumulated upon the windlass, and the portion which is leftfree will be contracted with immense force. This law lies at thefoundation of my invention, which consists in the application thereof topresses with certain modifications to adapt it specially thereto." llhemodification lies in making the windlass or windlasses tapering, so asto allow the purchase 7 or mechanical advantage to be varied to suit thevariations in the resistance as the work proceeds.

My invention may be applied to all presses whether for the compressionof cotton, hay, or other material, and may be operated by any kind ofpower. It is more especially adapted, however, to be used in cheappresses. It may be constructed almost entirely of wood, if desired, andthe cordage and pulleys employed may be very readily disconnected andstored under cover when the press is not in use.

v To enable others skilled in the arts to which this is most nearlyallied to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation by the aid of the drawings and of the lettersof reference Amarked thereon.

A A are posts which support and connect the fixed parts B and C. Theseparts, as also the platen or movable platform D, are arranged in theVordinary manner, and may be open, as represented, or may be boxed and'provided with one ormore doors, &c'., as preferred. The stout movableplatform D is supported laterally by the posts A, and is thereby duringthe mass of whatever character which is to be co-mpressed.

In the drawings, E is a powerful coiled spring, and the useful workwhich the press is now prepared to accomplish is to effect thecompression of this spring, to allow it to be introduced under arailroadcar or wherever else it may berequired to be used in acornpressed condition.

M and Nare tapering windlasses, fixed on a single stout shaft, G, sothat they taper in opposite directions. Each is an exact counterpart tothe other, and is finished with a spiral groove, adapted to receive astrong rope or chain, as represented. The shaft Gr is mounted insuitable bearings, c c, on the fixed framework, and is provided with awheel, H, which is adapted to receive motion from the hands of theoperator or from any other power, either 4directly or through the aid ofmachinery of any ordinary character. An endless screw, for example, maybe fitted to give motion to the worm-wheel h, which is boltedupon orforms a part of IVI, and such endless screw (not represented) may bethrown into and out of gear at pleasure, according to the power atcommand, the amount of resistance, 8mo.

V is a stout rope of a proper y length, having its ends splicedtogether. through the block or pulley m and coiled several times aroundthe tapering windlass The block m is connected by a clevis or strap,

` I, to a staple or bolt, t', which passes through one end of themovable platform D, and may be adjusted therein by turning a nut, I, asrepresented. Y

X is a rope similarly coiled on the opposite tapering windlass, N, andsimilarly rove through the block n, which latter is similarly connectedto the end of platform D opposite to the block m by means of a clevis,J, staple or boltj, and nut J. Ihe form which I give to the taperingwindlasses M and N is not a uniform taper. The portion near the smallend of each is a frustum of a cone, in which the diameter is greater inproportion to its length than the cone of which the portion near It isrove a estesa the large end is a frustum; or, in more common language,my taper'is swelled, so that it ltapers faster near the small end thannear the large end.

The operation is as follows: The hay, cotton, crushed apples, orwhatever else is to be compressed being properly in place on theplatform D, and the ropes m and a being coiled on the small ,end of thecorresponding tapering windlasses, and the nuts I and J adjusted to takeup the slack as nearly as may be, I apply the power of steam or horselor of the `hands to turn the shaft G through the aid of the wheel II. Iturn in the direction indicated by the red arrow, and the first effectis to overhaul the ropes M and N, running each through its respectivepulley and transferring it gradually from the small end of the windlasstoward the larger end. Each revolution of the wheel H, and consequentlyof the tapering windlasses, lets off a coil from the windlass and windson a coil at the same time on the same windlass', but on a differentpart thereof. The part which winds on the rope, being larger than thatwhich lets off the rope the effect is to raise the platform D andcompress the material E.

The tapering of the windlass or windlasses in my press I esteem lavitally essential feature of my invention.

I do not confine myself to the precise form of the parts shown in Figs.3 and 4; but that form or one in which the taper is much greater at thesmall end than at and near the large end should be given it under allordinary conditions. I can make it uniformlytapered if it is for anyreason desirable, or I can, if preferred, give it a hollowed form, bywhich I mean a form increasing in size more rapidly near its large endthan :near its small end, but I should use such forms only in connectionwith some peculiar power or for some unusual purpose. rlhe effect of theform represented is to raise the platform D rapidly and with moderate'force at the commencement, when the resistance is slight, and to raiseit more slowly and with greater force as the degree of compression of Eincreases. I can, by

. making the largest end of Mand N almost perfectly cylindrical for somedistance, increase themechanical force of the power applied on the wheelH, almost infinitely, and this great increase may, by my invention, beapplied either near the end of the action, as required in ordinarycompression of hay, &c., or at the commencement or middle, as might berequired in crushing some obstinate material which yields more readilyafter it is broken and the crushing has commenced than before, and I canproduce this nice adjustment of the force -to the end desired by simplygiv- Ichange in the adjustment of the rope.

the bolts i j and the nuts I J, or their equivalents, may be readilyextended to any length required, so as to readily give the maximumpurchase or advantage at the right moment, or when the press hascontracted to the proper extent. v

In addition to the variation of purchase attainable by giving irregulartapers, as described, the taper form of my windlasses, Ias distinguishedfrom the two cylinders of unequal diameters previously known-and usedfor purposes somewhat analogous, affords a very important advantage inanother respect. This is a variation in the effect due tof I coil therope four and a half times around my tapering windlass, as represented,my press will operate with a certain speed, and with a certaininvcrselycorresponding mechanical advantage or purchase. Now, if I readjust the same rope, or apply another, which shall be coiled but three anda half, two and a half, one and a half, or, as an eX- treme case, onlyone-half around, or, in other words, simply hung upon the taperingwindlass, the velocity and the purchase with which the press willoperate will be very greatly changed. In the last case it will raise theplatform D much slower and with much greater purchase than in any of theother cases. This is apparent on considering that the action ofthe pressis due to the difference in diameter of the the tapering windlassbetween the part where it is coiled on and the part where it is let off,l

and the purchase is inversely as such difference. If these points arewidely removed by the presence of several coils of rope between, theaction will be rapid and weak; if there are few or no coils between, theaction will be slow and the multiplication in the intensity of the forcemuch greater. By making the adjustment sufficient, the same rope may beused for all these conditions; but I prefer using a different rope orchain for each arrangement.

In those forms of press in which a lever is used to communicate theforce to the platform D, or its equivalent, one tapering windlass andone rope and pulley might serve as well as two. I do not limit myself toany particular number, but,

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new therein,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The use, in presses,of the tapering windlass M, arranged to operate incombination with the rope "W and block m, or their respectiveequivalents, so that the rope or chain W shall be simultaneously woundon and let off, in the manner and for the purpose herein set Iforth.

JAMES CIIBISTISON.

